Genki Japan Blog はじめまして。

This is one of the best "serious" beginner's books in Japanese. It is supposed to be able to teach college students, high school students, and adults learning on their own, although I think it was definately meant for the former. If you are going to self-teach with this book, although if you're already doing things via the input method (reading, watching tv and movies, and listening to a lot of Japanese) then you can skip the workbooks and CDs. You can practice for free via Lang-8 and get the pronunciation correct through lots of listening. It uses everyday examples, which is a whole lot better than using business-type settings. Basically, you follow Mary, an American foreign exchange student, as she goes through University life, making friends, watching movies, ect. This structure gives the book a good flow, and it helps introduce Kanji gradually. By the end of these two volumes, the JLPT 4 or even 3 should be no sweat. Building a person's vocabulary is one thing...